GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 28 – June 20, 2015 | Page 39

All together at Valencia. Spain. Photo courtesy of Marcos Gañete.

the ladies playing a 7 a-side format. Madrid, as they finished, recorded a double win in both codes at their home
opening tournament (Madrid beat Irmandinhas in the ladies final). In Ladies at the next round in Estrada, Galicia
(new venue), Madrid Harpettes were not able to attend
and the competition was won by this year’s Galicia Liga
champions Irmandinhas.
Madrid then won in Barcelona with Irmandinhas absent
but the two attended the A Corunna tournament and this
time the all Galician side, Irmandinhas, proved strongest actually beating the home side in the final. This left
things nicely poised heading into the June 6th final round
at Valencia with Irmandinhas leading by 7 points on 70
and Madrid on 63. Madrid once more came out on top
in the last round and won the tournament beating city
rivals O’Donnells in the decider, the latter knocked out
Irmandinhas in the semis. In the end, in the overall Iberian championship, Madrid unlike the previous year when
they won out comfortably having won all rounds, scraped
home against Galician champions Irmandinhas on 88
points to 86.

HARPS HAD TO BATTLE
It was as close in the men’s Iberian championship between the same two teams reigning champions Madrid,
playing with mostly Irish players and Irmandinhas mostly
all Galician. This championship was again tight through
each round with both Irmandinhos and Fillos de Breogán
pushing and beating both Madrid and Barcelona when
they crossed paths. Ahead of the final round at Valencia,
Irmandinhos narrowly led Madrid Harps by 48 points to
44.5.
In the deciding tournament Madrid and Irmandinhos
won through to the final to decide the championship
with the Harps greater experience edging an epic battle
by 0-10 to 0-8. This was a fantastic display from Irmandinhos considering that Madrid had all but two Irish players in the team, while Irmandinhos had just two Irish in
their squad. The championship ended with Madrid on
69.5 points and Irmandinhos second with 64. Barcelona
came in third on 57 followed closely by Fillos de Breogán
on 54.5

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